10 Days

We made a count down chain to Disneyland.  Never have I been so excited for a trip! I cannot wait to see the look on Ella's face when she sees just how big the Disney castle is. 

Picnic Season

The first day of fall brought cooler weathers to the valley.  I was thrilled this weekend to be able to walk outside and not be drenched in sweat.  We had a picnic Saturday morning and there was a nice cool breeze.  We also had breakfast outside Sunday and enjoyed the sun. 

 Growing up with all four seasons has made it extremely difficult to adjust to the weather in the valley.  It was a nice change, I look forward to more picnics and bike rides.

Ella made some new feathery friends.  She also insisted on wearing her Princess dress on our picnic. 

Books

I know it's normal for babies to love books.  I wasn't sure if it was going to stick with Ella or not.  This girl loves books.  She loves looking at them and listening to us read.  This particular morning she had taken one of my books from my side table.  She just sat there looking at the pages.  She told me that she was reading and that the book was about Valentines Day, Mommy, Daddy and, Ella.  I don't think it's going to be too long before she's reading.  Let's hope she always enjoys it.

(she always licks her finger before flipping the page)

Arizona!

I truly love Arizona during Monsoon season.  It's basically the only time the city gets any type of fun weather.  I took these pictures on our way to Devin's parents house.  I thought it was so neat.  Looking forward to it cooling down! 

Hey there!

This little miss is almost 3.5.  Ella continues to expand her vocabulary and comes up with the funniest sayings.  She LOVES to sing, she sings about EVERYTHING.  She loves princesses and at times refuses to wear pants.  She will say, "I don't want to be a Prince Mommy."  She has also at times started referring to Devin and I as Mom and Dad.  This just seems so grown up.  I like being mommy and so, it's weird to here her say, "Hey MOM, I'm talking to you!" 

She's riding her trike and loves it!  She also loves dancing and coloring.

Please stop growing little Princess.  

Writing...

We've known for awhile that Ella's fine motor skills are exceptional.  She's been enjoying writing lately.  She wrote this for Papa Moosie.  Mind you, obviously it says 'Papa Moomie'.  She has a bit of a hard time writing the letter 's' so she figured an 'm' would work.  We're very impressed with this little girl and how smart she is.  The other day at dinner I was telling her to eat her fruit and her response was, "I'm just too famished mommy, you have to feed me." Smart little cookie.  She's also able to spell and write Mommy. She's getting pretty close to writing Pierce as well.

Chomp Sticks

We met some friends for sushi a few weeks back and brought Ella with us.  We had been there before so we knew that they had a children's menu.  Ella loved the 'chomp' sticks.  We enjoyed watching her try and use them.  In the end she ended up with a fork.  On a side note, I am shocked at how much food they gave her....

Rain drops falling on my head head head....

Ella is a lot like me.  She likes a lot of the same things I do.  

One of the things I love is rain.  I love dancing in the rain and splashing in puddles.  I know I am older and I shouldn't partake in such childish things but, I do.  

It has been monsoon season and Ella and I have enjoyed the rain a lot.  This particular morning we were getting ready to leave for school and work.  I saw that it was raining and ran to get Ella.  She ran out and was soo excited and sang, "Rain drops falling on my head head head"  

Ginger

This is Ella's Uncle Ryan.  I don't think Ella will ever call him Ryan though.  To her, he will alwasy be referred to as Gingee.  

This is my Gingee Ginger who drives the Strawberry shortcake car (his car is red).

Ella drew this picture of him.  I thought it was funny that she drew him with a red crayon.  She also gave him much more hair than he really has.

We love you Gingee.

Bapo

 

Ella has been having Bapo walk into school (daycare) with her.  Before we leave, she gives Bapo a nuzzle, cuddle, eskimo and, kiss.  Her friends wait patiently at the door as she gives him lovies.  

Never has a stuffed animal been so loved.  Bapo, you're the best friend a little bug could ask for. 

Visiting Pinetop

We went up the mountain to visit my parents a couple of weeks ago.  It was a nice trip and as usual, we we spoiled by my mom and dad.  It was good to see them and enjoy the cool weather.  Ella took a real liking to their cat Stinky (well actually, she's my cat)  We took a quick trip to Greer and had a nice lunch there.  I was saddened to see all of the dead trees  :( People really need to be more mindful when starting fires...

A baby girl sister...

We've been preparing Ella for a sibling for sometime now.  We want her to get used to the idea of having a little brother or sister so, we talk about it.  We will ask her if she wants a little brother or a little sister.  

For the longest time, it went back and forth always changing.  Lately, it's been consistent, she wants a sister. 

The other day, we were at the Disney store watching Ella color when a little girl about one and a half walks up to the table.  Ella looked at Devin and I pointed to the little girl and said, "I want one like that, a little girl sister."  

This not only took Devin and I by surprise but, it made us laugh.  

Well Ella bug, I hope we can give you a little girl sister....Even though Mommy wants a little boy =) only time will tell.

Bed Time

Ella's a great kid.  I am pretty sure I say that in just about every other post but, she really is.  Even as a baby she was just really easy.  She slept through the night almost right off the bat, she's always gone down for naps easily, she wasn't a climber, and she potty trained in a weekend.  It's always just been easy.  

When we moved into our house, Ella was not yet two.  I was having a hard time deciding if I should move her from her crib to a big girl bed at the same time we moved her from the apartment to a big house.  I talked to a lot of my friends that had kids and they all said to just make the switch all at once.  I was still uncertain but, I did it anyway.  It was a really big mistake.  I should have waited until she adjusted to the new house and waited until she was ready to sleep in a big girl bed.  

We moved her to the big bed and it was just a really big struggle so, we put the crib back up...well, that was a struggle too.  So, for the last year Ella has been sneaking into our room at about one in the morning.  She would wake up run into our room, climb into our bed and get as close to me as she could.  For awhile, I enjoyed this - I love cuddles and I love her cuddles BUT she is unable to sleep in one position.  We tried taking her back to bed (most nights I would be too sleepy to) we tried telling her that she's too big to sleep in our room.  Nothing really seemed to work for a long period of time.  I was starting to get really frustrated and we (Ella and I) were losing a lot of sleep.  This meant that we were having a lot of grumpy mornings.

About a month or so ago we were all at the mall and passed Build A Bear.  We had taken Ella in there before so that she could give Bapo and air bath.  She saw the store and wanted to go in and give him a bath.  As we walked into the store, she saw a Panda and she fell in love.  She told me over and over how much she liked the Panda.  We proceeded to give Bapo a bath and left.  As we were leaving the mall, we saw a little girl that had the Build a Bear Panda dressed as a Princess.  Ella got SUPER excited and talked about princess panda.  

That night I was thinking about it and thinking about how excited she was about it.  I talked to Devin about it and told him I thought maybe implementing a sticker chart in the effort to earn Princess Panda might be a good way to get her to stay in her bed.  The next day I told Ella about the sticker chart.  We told her that each night she stayed in her bed like a big girl, she'd get a sticker the next morning.  We explained that when she got to ten stickers we would go get Princess Panda.  I honestly wasn't expecting it to work.  Three nights in I was in shock. Ella earned her Princess Panda and has stayed in her bed ever since.  

We still continue to praise her each night she stays in her room but, we're not having to tell her every night that she needs to do it.  I must say, since the change I have been having way more dreams.  I think it's safe to say all of us are much happier :)

Anniversary

Devin and I had our first anniversary last Friday.  It was a nice day and we were fortunate that my parents came here and watched Ella.  He got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and we went to the Melting Pot that night.  I have been wanting to go to the Melting Pot for YEARS.  I am pleased to say that it was amazing and so yummy! 

A lot of people told me that marriage would change things.  I don't know if they meant that in a bad way or a good way but, they really haven't for Devin and I.  Often we wonder if it's because we were already living as if we were married.  Don't get me wrong, I love being married I am just saying it just didn't change us.  I am just as in love with him as I was when I married him.  We work well together and I think there is a good balance between us.  Not only do we work well together as a couple but we work well together as parents.  I think that's important.  He is the Yin to my Yang.  I am eager to see what the future holds for us and our little family.  

Cousins.

I really didn't grow up with cousins at least not in the way that a majority of my friends did.  It always kind of made me sad that I didn't have that closeness with them.  Recently, Ella has been seeing a lot of her cousins.  I hope that she'll be close with a few of them as they all get older.  She's very fortunate with her Cousin Maddox.  He's going to be ten this year but is easily the sweetest little boy.  He's so great with Ella and he's really patient with her. 

Ella and Irish

 On the boat with Oma Grandma Washie

Playing dress up with (second) cousin Mikayla

Catching Up

Life has just gotten too busy for posting :( We have had such a large amount of family over the last month and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write about what's going on with the Pierce family.  

We're all doing well and are happy that it's monsoon season.  I love it when it rains (it rarely does) and I like going outside with Ella and Devin to dance in it.  We take walks and talk about lightning and thunder and we sing rain drops falling on our heads.  Sometimes, we will actually jump in the car and drive around the neighborhood and watch the rain.  I love it and I love that Ella and Devin both love it too.  

Ella is now in the Pre-School room at daycare and she seems to like it.  With each new room she goes to I am always a bit worried about how she'll adjust.  New room, new teacher and, generally new friends.  We're very lucky because there are about four kids that have been with Ella since they were all about six months old.  They're all best friends and so going into the new rooms isn't as scary.  Ella is the younger of the four so, she's typically the last to move.  I was excited about this class as I felt like she was needing more of a challenge.  She continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and is constantly making us laugh with the things she says.  

There really isn't much new with Devin and I.  We're both just working and live for the weekends. We were happy that we had so much company but, we are happy to have our normal routine back.

Hospital...

Ella's first trip to the hospital also happened while we were in Michigan.  Devin and his mom were swinging Ella as we were walking and she started screaming.  It was really pretty awful.  Devin said, Oh no I felt a pop.  Trying to comfort her was very difficult.  She didn't want to be touched at all.  She just held onto her little arm and cried.  So to the ER we went.  She was ok with me holding her but not touching her arm.  By the time we got there she seemed in better spirits but wanted to have nothing to do with Devin.  He tried kneeling down and talking to her to tell her he was sorry.  She ran and held on to my leg and said, Mommy I'm scared.  I felt so badly for Devin.  

Anyway, we found out it was nurse maids elbow which apparently is very common in small children.  When we saw the doctor, Ella had already popped it back in place.  Poor Devin was afraid to touch her after that. She really did handle it very well.

The next day, we were walking and she held Devin's hand.  She looked up at him and said, don't hurt me ok?? 

She certainly knows how to lay on the guilt.

Faces

I've been patiently waiting for Ella to start drawing things.  She started drawing smiley faces while we were in Michigan.   This is one of the pictures I took of her drawing :) I like his pretty blue eyes.  She's very proud of herself.  She has also been writing her name. I'll post a picture of that later.

Vacation

We went to Michigan for vacation this year.  We spent a week there and stayed with Devin's Grandma.  Devin's mom and step dad drove up from Ohio and his Uncle Mike drove in from Chicago.  We had a wonderful time on our trip and had a lot of adventures.  Ella and I met A LOT of family.  Lots of Grandma Jody's brothers and sisters and some of Great Grandma Bonnies family.  We were also very fortunate to get to see Ella's Great Great Grandma Frances.  She is Devin's Papa's mother and is 96.  We went to Pine lake, Frankenmuth, a Turkey Farm, saw lots of Marshall and visited with the family.  It was a great trip and we made a lot of memories.  Michigan is a beautiful state and we hope to visit it again someday.

Talker

Ella talks a lot as in she talks herself to sleep and is very rarely quiet.  She comes up with silly little things to say...here are some examples:

Ella- Mommy! I just can't believe it

Me- Oh really?? Believe What??

Ella- Bamboo (Panda) Scared captain hook away!! I just can't believe it! 

Ella- Don't Do that ok, it's dangerous!! 

We were at the lake and Devin was picking up seashells.  He would shake them out to make sure that nothing was living in them still:

Ella- You can do it Daddy! I know you can!

Other things She's saying:

Oh shucks

You got it dude

It's alright mommy it was an accident

I never ever want to do that

Silly Goose

Well actually....

Birthday Parties

Ella had a great birthday.  She's a lucky little girl because she has three sets of grandparents.  She also has a fair amount of Aunts and Uncles.  We decided that Ella didn't need to have an official birthday party as we were going to leave on vacation the following weekend.  She still managed to have four birthday parties.  She had a small one with my parents, Devin's dad and step mom, Devin's Grandma's and, Devin's moms sisters.  Here's a snap shot of the gifts she received.  I honestly am glad we didn't have a party with friends; it would have just been too much.  As much as I want a little boy next, I don't know what would will do with all of the pink things....